By: Joe Strupp Some of the newspaper industry's biggest players are meeting this week in Washington, D.C. for a two-day symposium aimed at finding new approaches and business options for the daily miracle, with the goal of implementing a handful of ideas before the end of the year.
The "Newspaper Next Task Force," formed by the American Press Institute and Innosight, a Massachusetts-based consulting firm, plans to brainstorm new opportunities for the newspaper industry and organize plans for putting them into use.
"The goal is to come up with a set of actual strategies that newspapers can implement in the next five years," said Andrew Davis, API's president and executive director. "A new model for business."
API has raised $2.25 million for the program, which began last year when the 26-person task force formed. The group includes major industry names including William Dean Singleton, CEO and vice-chairman of MediaNews Group, and Gary Watson, retired president of Gannet Co. Inc.'s newspaper division. Other members are Peter Bhatia, executive editor of The Oregonian and former ASNE president; Christian Hendricks, vice president of interactive for The McClatchy Company; and Owen Youngman, vice president of development for the Chicago Tribune, among others.
Davis said the task force is looking for ideas and approaches that go beyond the current traditional newspaper formats. He cited such elements as success with free dailies, expansion into event sponsorship and marketing, and other elements aimed at "non-customers of your product."
Innosight Managing Director Scott Anthony pointed to areas of Web use and wireless information that remain untapped. "We are trying to give the newspaper industry that path to success through what are some difficult times," he said.
The task force and invited guests will meet beginning Wednesday at the National Press Building in Washington and continue through noon on Thursday. When the event ends, the group will seek five newspapers to act as guinea pigs for some of the ideas.
"It all points to the future model of the newspaper being a portfolio of services," Davis said.
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